Hi guys,
I believe this trend has been around for recent months. The Open Source Software as a Service.
What is it? Let's find out now.
Open Source Software
This term is so familiar to everybody nowadays, right? OSS can be anything, including:
Fully implemented software
Libraries
Services
Frameworks
even Languages
Most people will start the development, finish it and share it with the world.
Once it reaches the moon, they will start maintaining it and ask for support via donation and that's it.
That's how things have been up til now.
Open Source Software as a Service
aka OSSaaS - is the new approach.
You will create fully implemented software, to deal with things, some are:
Automated customer notification workflow.
Site builder (drag and drop).
Build visual charts or tools from the database (low-code).
E-commerce website builder.
...
And, you put your source to GitHub and share it with the whole world - as an Open Source Software.
And the whys? Hehe, check out below.
The PROs
The software will be used and contributed by all developers around the world.
- Including testing, bug reports,... => Free battle/stress tests.
Build a great reputation for your company among developers around the WORLD.
Free marketing (developers to developers, star, fork,...).
- Not much but worth it.
Enjoy huge offers from many services (only for OSS):
GitHub: unlimited actions run.
- Imagine you have thousands of test cases, it takes hours & $$$.
CodeCov: free code coverage analysis.
SonarQube/Scrutinizer: free code analysis, scanner.
... and so much more
Earning?
There are some ways that I can think of:
Donation
Yeah, good'ol way, donation on the OSS project on GitHub 🥰.
Cloud
You provide the Cloud to the customers. You will deploy and charge based on their usage (by hours or monthly subscriptions,...)
Premium Features
This would go as a part of Cloud, where customers can subscribe to a PRO or PRO MAX plan so they can get:
More features
Supports
Seats
Yeah, on Cloud, you can sell the seat too. Example 1 more seat will cost $xx, but if you subscribed to our PRO MAX plan, it only cost $yy (cheaper).
Custom Features
This one should available only for big companies or Enterprise-level.
Where they can ask for specific use cases, they desire features,... And then, we continue to build things on top of the OSS (or Premium) source.
Additionally, you can require customers to use your cloud service.
Sample Services
Conclusion
Well, this may be your new strategy for your next startup projects.
Instead of directly reaching the customers, developers-first 😉
Thanks for reading!